


Ripples

by happycookiie



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Character Thoughts, F/M, Pain, Unseen Footage, almost lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 19:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4847360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happycookiie/pseuds/happycookiie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl watched as the single drop of water fell to the hard barren ground, soaked up instantly into the thirsty earth... He watched as she fell to the ground, a bullet lodged in her brain. Just a single drop she was, fragile yes, but every drop of water leaves ripples.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ripples

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I decided to transfer from my other ff.net account over to here. Have some pain.

He heard the firing of the gunshot. Then saw the blood. And then, her body, falling lifeless to the floor. Everything around him stopped as he stared and tried to absorb the scene before him. He heard nothing... Just the eerie silent fuzzing bouncing off his eardrums. Saw nothing... Only her fallen form a few feet away from him, lying in a pool of deep red.

Everything after that seemed to blur.

The uncomfortable murmuring of the other residents of the hospital facility, Rick and the others trying to contain their sorrow, and him reaching down and scooping up her frail body into his arms, her head cradled against his firm chest. She sagged in his hold, like a broken doll, motionless as he carried her out after the rest of the group, hot tears burning in his eyes.

_I know you look at me and just see another dead girl!_

He shook his head.  _No_. Now wasn't the time to think about things like that, to remember all those things she said. It was stupid, pointless... weak. Daryl wasn't weak. Just like she wasn't. Beth Greene was strong. Optimistic, caring, and fragile. She hadn't wanted this, and she hadn't deserved it.

The way Maggie's face fell as she laid eyes upon his approaching form, her sister cradled in his arms, her eyes filled with tears and she fell to her knees. She knelt, crying out in desperation and sheer loss, hands cupping her mouth as Glenn knelt beside her and tried to comfort her. "No!" she would sob occasionally, as if her persistent denial would change the fact that her sister was dead. She was gone, and there was nothing she or anyone could do about it. Gone...

_I'll be gone someday._

_Stop._

_I will._

Daryl lowered his gaze down to the girl in his arms, took in her vulnerable appearance as the blood seeped down her face from the bullet hole. He lifted his hand and wiped away some of the crimson liquid gently, allowing his fingers to linger over her soft cheek, still warm and rosy... but growing cold. Gone. That's what she was. But she wasn't just gone this time, he couldn't just find her again. This time... she was gone for good.

_You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon._

It was in that moment that the tears spilled down Daryl's cheeks, hot and thick, and his heart fell.

Why...? Why did she have to be right about  _this_? Out of all the beautiful things she said and did... why  _this_? All the compassion she showed, all the kindness she shared, all the humanity. What in God's name had the girl done to deserve such a shitty fate!? Anger. That's what Daryl felt. Raw anger and failure to protect the person that mattered most. Failure to save that one drop of water from being soaked into the thirsty earth... He had failed her. This wasn't like a kid's video game where you would just hit restart and try again. This was reality. This, he couldn't take back.

But... every drop of water leaves ripples. And Beth Greene would not be forgotten. Not by Rick, Maggie, Carl... and especially not  _him._ She would live on. In him. She would be remembered. Hell... how could she be  _forgotten_? She was a survivor, a sliver of hope, a light in the darkness, the goodness to the hatred.

She was Beth.

_There's still good people, Daryl._

_I don't think the good ones survive._

Leaning down and planting a single kiss on her forehead, Daryl sighed and lowered his eyelids. "...They fucking don't." he murmured against her hair, breathing in her sweet scent for one last time, before she was gone forever.

Forever. He hated that word. Just like he hated goodbyes. Just like  _Beth_  hated goodbyes... At least this way... she hadn't had to say the word.


End file.
